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(in her 40s)

The Representation of Brits in American Culture

As you know, all of us Brits are incredibly posh, very wealthy, extremely intelligent, we’re all white and we all speak in the same posh southern accent (or RP = received pronunciation as it’s known). Yes, we are all a walking/talking everyday version of Four Weddings and a Funeral. All my male friends are just like Hugh Grant and I’m *exactly* like Kristin Scott-Thomas. Now, excuse me whilst I visit my pal at his beautiful large country house and chortle away the hours whilst quaffing* champagne.

Except, as you may have discerned from my tone or if indeed you in fact, like me, hail from the British Isles then you will realise this is not the case at all. It is in fact a grossly stereotyped idea of what Britain and the British are like. Don’t get me wrong, some people do live their lives like they’ve stepped straight out of a Richard Curtis movie, but this proportion of the British people is very, very small. For a small island, we are a varied breed. However, the representation of us Brits is never more strongly stereotyped than it is within American culture.

Now, please realise, I LOVE American culture. I’ve already praised it’s comedy HERE and have mentioned my love of American films, books and music throughout many of my posts. However, I can’t help but roll my eyes when a British character is introduced on American TV and film. Here we go, I think to myself, they’ll be posh, well spoken, a snob, white and no doubt probably quite dull. Or they’ll be plotting to destroy the world. One or the other. Either way, it’s never that pleasing and rarely accurate.

So here’s a few pointers about how American culture get their representation of British people wrong. Before I start though, none of the below is a dig at Americans, it is a dig at the people who make their TV shows and films. Americans can’t be blamed for thinking the British are only a certain way if that’s all they see of us:

We are all posh snobs. Trust me on this one, we are NOT like this. Most of us are not posh (I’m speaking from a personal perspective here) and most of us are very down-to-earth, genuine and self-deprecating. We are nice people who just like a good laugh. The worst example of this representation is bloody Emily (great, classic British name there. Really used your imagination coming up with that name, didn’t you?) from Friends. She was indeed very posh, spoke with the so-called classic British accent (more on this is in a moment), was a complete snob, uptight, showed no sense of humour and most of all was very unlikable. The most annoying thing about Emily is that the writers of Friends created her and the episodes that took place in London as a way to thank the British fans of Friends, but in actual fact all it did was insult us. It’s ok, we got over it once they got rid of the character of Emily as that’s the kind of easy going people we are (we are rarely represented as being easy going either). Interestingly, well respected British actor Helen Baxendale who played Emily was asked to return for the final season of Friends, but she declined. She says that playing Emily was the biggest regret of her career.

We all speak with the same RP accent. We are a small country, a lot smaller than America anyway, BUT we have so many different accents for such a small country. Geordie (Newcastle), Scouse (Liverpool), Brummie (Birmingham), Manchester, a variety of Yorkshire accents, Bristolian (Bristol), the west country accent, Essex, Suffolk, Home Counties, and at least 4 different London based accents…to name, but a few. Also, that is just England. There is also a wide range of Scottish and Welsh accents too. So, it is safe to say, we do NOT all speak the same. This has been made very apparent to me when I have spent time in the US. Too many times Americans have mistaken me as Australian when they meet me and hear me talk (I am rolling my eyes so hard right now, I’ve almost given myself an eye hernia). In Vegas once, there was this guy on the street that said he could guess what state you were from and if you weren’t American, he’d be able to guess what country. He seemed pretty sure of himself. We had to pay, but if he guessed wrong we’d get our money back plus a prize. I confidently handed him my dollars. I spoke and his answer was….Australian? Nah mate. Not quite. You’re just a whole hemisphere away. For the record, I come from the same part of the UK as both Kate Winslet and Ricky Gervais are from. My accent is half way between the two. Interestingly, the vast difference between Ricky & Kate’s accents is an example in itself of how varied British accents are as they are both from the same town. Occasionally, a “cockney” accent will be portrayed within American culture, but a) it’s usually done badly b) it’s not that often and c) it’s the same area of the UK as the RP accent. Therefore, yet again that British character with the token “cockney” accent is still only representing the same area of the UK.

We are all white. Whilst I’m probably not the best person to speak on this subject, being a white Brit myself, it is such a painfully important point, it needs raising. Plus it’s something that properly gets on my tits. Once, I was at a music festival in Coney Island, NYC. The British band the Noisettes came on stage and immediately performed their first song. The lead singer happens to be black. When they finished the song, the lead singer said in her broad London accent “ALRIGHT NEW YORK?”. I was then astounded when surrounding me, everyone turned to each other and questioned “oh my God is she British?” or….”is that singer…you know…British?! I’m so surprised”. They were clearly shocked, but not as shocked as I was that they couldn’t quite believe this black person had a British accent. That some British people could in fact be black. However, we can’t blame these shocked American gig goers. How often when a British character is introduced on American TV or in film are they black? Or Asian or anything other than white? The issue is whenever a black British actor gets work in America they play an American or an African. Never or very rarely do they get to play their own nationality. As I’ve already talked about in a previous post of mine, many Brits play Americans on American TV and if you look at my list HERE you will see that many of them are not white. It is seemingly the only way non-white Brits can get work over there. Idris Elba had to use his well-practiced Baltimore accent when speaking to TheWire fans at it would freak them out if he spoke in his own London accent. This might partly be that they couldn’t handle that this Baltimore character was played by a Brit, but am I too bold to suggest it might also have freaked them out hearing a British accent coming from a black person? After witnessing the reaction of those particular Americans at the Noisettes gig, it could also be a possibility.

Gratuitous Idris Elba photo because…oh my God just look at the man.

The British are just English. I also feel American culture forget about the Scottish and the Welsh. If an Irish person does appear in American culture they are usually from the Republic of Ireland and very rarely from Northern Ireland. Out of these three nationalities the Scottish are probably represented the most. Yet, as you can guess they are largely stereotyped too. I’m thinking about the school caretaker in the Simpsons right now (maybe not the best example because as much as I love the Simpsons, they do like to stereotype- hello Apu). Welsh characters never appear within American culture. I’m struggling to think of one. Can you?

If we’re not uptight posh snobs then we are evil villains. We just don’t come across well to Americans, do we? If we did, then maybe just maybe we’d be represented more favourably. However, playing evil Brits has done/did wonders for the careers of Gary Oldman, Alan Rickman, Jeremy Irons et al. Whilst it’s not altogether pleasant, this stereotype doesn’t bother me as much (perhaps it should) as at least these villainous characters are quite fun unlike the boring, haughty British characters. I love this car advert starring Ben Kingsley, Tom Hiddleston and Mark Strong that sends up the stereotype of the British being evil villains.

We can’t rap. Admittedly, if I did a rap for you right now, you would be well within your rights to point and laugh at me until I walked off in shame. Nonetheless, there is a strong animosity towards British rappers in general. Last year, Drake released his new album and a few tracks featured British rappers Giggs and Skepta (as well as British singers Jorja Smith and Sampha). The reaction on the internet was not positive. Many Americans claimed that the album was ruined by the British rappers. People even created memes to show how angry they were about it (granted, the memes were actually quite funny. You can find some examples HERE). It seems that Americans don’t seem to appreciate our rap/grime music. Again, is this because British rappers don’t fit the only British representation that Americans are exposed to? Possibly, they hear the accent and think that a British person cannot relate to what rap music is about because all we do is drink tea and discuss the merits of Shakespeare over here? I get it to a certain extent. Americans are bound to prefer American music as it represents their culture more. However, to have no tolerance of other countries producing the same genre of music is hardly inclusive and thoroughly audacious. There is one thing that I cannot stand and that is music snobbery. A particular genre of music should never be limited to just one continent.

British rapper Giggs

It rains all the time. So this is more of a stereotype about our country rather than its people. Every time an American TV show or film relocates to the UK, this is typically signified by rain pouring down on the streets of the UK somewhere. Yes, it does like to rain over here. That’s why are countryside is so luscious and green. I appreciate the rain for this reason, but here’s the thing, we also get other weather. We even get hot, sunny days. Only recently, America has been experiencing spring time snow and we on the other hand, have been sunbathing in our back gardens. We get weather that allows us to enjoys days at the beach, allows us to have BBQs in our gardens, picnics in parks and even swim in outdoor swimming pools. The problem being, that it will be like this one week and then a lot cooler and rainy the following week. Our weather is “interestingly” unpredictable over here.

We have bad teeth. Yes, some of us have bad teeth, but also lots of us have good teeth. We just like to keep things a bit more “natural” across the Atlantic.

An excellent example of a natural British smile.

The one stereotype about the British that is 100% correct. We drink a lot of tea. First thing in the morning? Yup tea please. Just finished breakfast? Better have another cup of tea. Mid morning break? Tea. Just had lunch? More tea. Mid-afternoon, just got home from work, after dinner, after doing the washing up, after having a bath, someone’s just popped round, someone’s having a crisis, just broken your leg, just had your car stolen, someone’s died, TEA TEA TEA AND MORE TEA. According to us Brits, there is literally nothing that can’t be cured by popping on the kettle and having a nice cup of tea. The Americans have this stereotype on the nose.

I am sure there are the odd occasions when the British haven’t been stereotyped within American culture, but it’s safe to say these occasions are few and far between. Why should it bother me that we so often get misrepresented? American culture is huge and dominates across the world. Therefore, this stereotype of the British (and indeed other countries. Did you know that all Russians are also evil villains? Only when the British are too busy drinking tea to take over the world that is) is constantly being seen and compounded across the world. With the worldwide influence American culture has, comes great responsibility. Just to reiterate, I don’t blame Americans at all for thinking the British are all of the above. Also, I realise there will be many Americans that won’t think any of this about the British at all, as they’ll know that a whole nation of people won’t have the same personality and background. It’s just a touch annoying that American culture can’t sometimes broaden its horizons when it comes to representing us Brits. Now, if you don’t mind, I’m going to put the kettle on and make myself a nice cup of tea. Cheers.

*WHAT THE FUCK IS QUAFFING?!

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83 comments

Tea does indeed cure all. I was blessed to have a Canadian Grandmother(whose family all came from England and Scotland). We had tea and biscuits or sometimes scones when ever she popped over after school. My friends thought she was the most exotic creature. LOL. When I was ill, or happy, or just any time we were together it was important to put the kettle on.

Absolutely, so important to put the kettle. Tea drinking is more than a habit for us Brits, I think it’s actually a ritual. Love the sound of your tea & biscuits & scones with your Grandmother. Lovely memory.

It was such a fun read! I think most TV shows take to stereotyping any culture, especially the ones dated. I’ve seen Indians being stereotyped so many times that I have lost count! Thankfully the newer series are more inclusive and the characters don’t seem like caricatures anymore! P.S. I really liked Emily from friends, I think Ross and Rachael were the ones who wronged her, don’t you?! 🙂

Oh yes they definitely wronged her to be fair. Oh yes, Indians get awfully stereotyped too. I think some shows are opening their minds up a bit, which is always refreshing to see. Thanks so much for reading.

First, quaffing is one of my favorite words. Maybe any word that starts with a q has a leg up in my book.
Second, totally. We stereotype the bajanx (David Mitchell reference) out of you people.
I tend to think of it as positive though. I love hearing British accents. Recently I was walking with a colleague from England and I tried to get a primer on what is the UK versus Britain versus England. We had a drink and he explained it all to me—except don’t ask me to repeat it. I believe I became hypnotized by his accent and forgot the whole thing.
I have had that slight surprise reaction when hearing a black man speak in a British accent (of some kind—my ear is untrained so not sure where he was from.) We were walking in the desert in Nevada and I noticed a couple talking, both from across the pond, one white one black. I had that moment where I paid a little extra attention and thought to myself, “Now why did I take extra notice that a black man would be speaking in an accent? That’s odd. Of course there are people of color in England/Wales/Scotland/Ireland.” (That last part is a lie-I only thought “England” but I want you to think I’m smart and paid attention.) So can’t help but agree with you there. The representations in American culture are poor. I’d like us to do better.
I enjoyed the post! But, you have to allow me to still think all of your accents sound so lovely. Maybe it’s because of the stereotypes—but if it is, it’s a good side effect. Listening to Richard Attenborough narrate the Earth show is like diving into a pool of soft music and fairies. (He’s a “Sir” Though right? So probably actually one of those posh people?)
When I was single I dated a guy from South Africa who went to school in London (maybe also a posh one?) but I believe his white turtleneck sweater and the accent were his biggest selling points.
Anyway, I just know I like you. And I appreciate the heads up that we Americans can be tossers.

Haha quaffing is a marvellous word. I will definitely allow you to enjoy our accents. Anything that’s complimentary- I’ll take! Richard Attenborough is most definitely posh, I *think* you might be thinking of his brother David who narrates all the nature programmes though. He is also very posh and I agree his voice is just a dream to listen to. He’s so very knowledgable and it is just so relaxing listening to him talk. David Attenborough is a sir, but his brother Richard never quite made it to knighthood (Richard was the director and actor). Haha you Americans are most definitely NOT tossers, I just don’t think your media does you any favours sometimes. Thank you so, so much for your comment Angela. And great to see that you’re learning haha (oh and I think there might be some British people who don’t know the difference between the UK, Britain and England) xx

Lol I am so glad I am not the only one that loves his accent voice! I actually put his nature documentaries on in the background when I’m sleepy. His tone of voice always sends me to sleep within 10 minutes.

Ooh yes- Lennie James is fiiiiiiine. He’s recently written and starred in a new drama over here (called Save Me if you ever get the opportunity to see it- it’s very good) and he is so very sexy in it. You can tell he wrote it as he has sex with about 3 different women in it.

But does she ever play a Welsh person? There’s several Welsh actors over in Hollywood, but one rarely sees Welsh characters depicted in the US. Thanks so much Jill and I’ve always got time for gratuitous photos of Idris haha x

It works the other way around, too; the British also stereotype Americans all the time in movies and on TV. For example, this scene in Love Actually, when Colin goes to Wisconsin. I was a Brit in Wisconsin, and this does not represent Americans accurately: https://youtu.be/pHqhAnguYJ0
Being a British-American myself, married to an American, with British-American children, I realise that as a family, we straddle both sides of the cultural coin, so perhaps we are more sensitive to this stuff. We live in the UK, but my eldest child calls my wife “mommy” for instance, whereas our youngest child calls her “mummy”.

Yeah I know we’re guilty of stereotyping Americans too. Plenty of countries stereotype plenty of other countries. I know it isn’t just the British that are victim to stereotyping. I’ve lived in America too and know the stereotypes of Americans aren’t true and am forever defending Americans when I hear them being stereotyped. This post was just a moan from a Brit though. It could’ve have been a more extended post about all stereotyping, but just wanted to stick to the one that effects me the most haha.

Yes a thousand times yes agree with everything apart from the tea. I’m a non-tea drinking Brit despite working in a coffee shop for a while. But I know lots of people who are tea-mad. The American stereotypes of us Brits is madenning at times!

Lemon and Ginger tea for me, and yes we grew up with only a teapot in sight. I think coffee back in the heydays was too expensive. No comments on the American side of things! With NZ for many years been a wannabe little English island, until we grew up 🙂

It’s funny, I’ve only really heard of people quaffing champers. I mean, you don’t hear about lads quaffing beer do you.
This is a brilliant post! I agree with it wholeheartedly!

Just last week I found out the head of my department at work was sure I am an aussie(!) When we visited NZ (another totally different accent) ALL the american staff checking our passports during our stopover, told us to have a good trip home(!) This was often while they were checking our passports, so they must just not expect Brits to sound like us!

…But about the tea, I used to not be a fan (shock, horror!) I started liking tea in Japan. Mostly because once anyone found out I was British, they’d make me tea. I didn’t know how to decline politely, so I’d drink it. After a few months of that, I started to like it. So, I returned to the UK *more* English than when i left!

Love it! The Japanese turned you even more English. I can’t believe your department head thought you were from Oz. It’s unbelievable the amount of times people thought I was Australian in the US. More times than they thought I was English. One person (in Texas) couldn’t even guess where I was from (I think he maybe thought I was from outer space). What’s weird is that I think I have such a normal, average English accent, which shows how obscure the representation of Brits can be in America. Cheers Josy!

Unfortunately this lack of open-mindedness is quite rampant in American culture (as I’m sure you are aware). Even within the US we perpetuate stereotypes that put each region at odds with each other – east is better than west, north is better than south, etc.; our young country certainly is good at fitting the stereotype of a young child hellbent on proving itself while focusing mainly on itself. And just as an add on, today I’m annoyed and embarrassed that an American in a Harry Potter fan group on Facebook is once again (yes, I’ve seen this before) crediting the Harry Potter movies as the start of Dame Maggie Smith’s career (the gall of some of us, I swear).

I did not go into this comment expecting to be so hard-hearted, but it’s frustrating to have an entertainment industry so controlling and not accurately representative (i.e. informative) of cultures, languages, people, and even geographical elements. It has such negative impacts, clearly.

Thank you so much for comment, Kelsey. Oh my God, that is actually hilarious that someone thought that Harry Potter was the start of Dame Maggie Smith’s career!!! I mean yeah she’s only been making film & TV and starring on the stage since 1952 and the Queen definitely only made her a Dame (which is a huge deal) because of the Harry Potter films and nothing else she could’ve possibly achieved. I mean, it’s fine if people don’t know facts about someone, but they probably shouldn’t be making up random ill-informed claims! Haha oh dear. Anyway, during my time in America, I noticed how people liked to define people based on where they were from/what their backgrounds were and in turn people seemed to like to be defined, to be pigeon-holed. I found it all rather strange, but figured it might be related to the history of immigration in America. People liked to be proud of where they’re from and that pride has trickled down through the generations. I am totally generalising here of course, but this is something I noticed. I love your sentence “our young country certainly is good at fitting the stereotype of a young child hellbent on proving itself while focusing mainly on itself”. I think the UK kind of does this too itself. Possibly only a certain section of the UK, but it’s a sentiment I definitely recognised. I agree with your last paragraph too. With the extensive influence on culture that America has worldwide, comes great responsibility. Whilst it’s unacceptable of other countries to stereotype too (obviously), this does make it slightly worse when America does it within their media. Cheers!

Haha exactly – I can’t even feel bad about the disgust non-American Harry Potter fans (intermingled with shame expressed by other American fans) directed to that commenter. I agree with you that the passing down of pride is a huge part of this mindset; handling and expressing that pride is certainly something we need to do more responsibly, for us and for the world.

I had forgotten about the Wisconsin scene in Love Actually. It is one of my favorite movies. The new Kingsman movie had some over the top American stereotypes but it was fun. I’m lucky enough to have been stationed at RAF Lakenheath in Suffolk for five years so I was able to meet many different types of people from all over the UK. If I want mostly correct depictions of the British I watch your TV shows on Acorn TV.

Funnily enough, I knew an American who was stationed with his family at that same RAF base when he was child! How funny. Glad you get to see some of our shows over there. I haven’t seen Kingsman yet, but I can imagine.

Lol when you said they’re all white I immediately thought of one of the minor, one or two episode, characters I saw on Gilmore Girls I was researching the other day… who was black… but I mean, he did fit the posh stereotypical accent thing lol… soooo… but seriously, I couldn’t even pull up another example so that’s definitely not the norm!

I had a Google this to see who it was. I couldn’t find out which actor it was, BUT I did find a marvellous website called Gilmore Blacks. It details every black person they had ever been in the show and if they had any lines or not. Most of the time they were just background artists or if they did have a line it would just be “yes ok”. Pretty terrible and unbelievable. Anyway, the only other one I can think of is someone who was in one episode of Master of None. She was black and British, but like the man in Gilmore Girls she was stereotypically posh and well spoken too.

1. I must have missed a lot of movies. Evil English villains abound in fiction written by, for, and about English people. In U.S. movies evil villains can be played by British actors, but plots I’ve seen involved their being spies from Enemy Countries who learned English in London.

2. Agreed: British, British-West-Indian, even Canadians who aren’t White (or Native Canadian), have an unreasonable amount of explaining to do in the U.S.

3. The stereotype with which I grew up allowed for British people to be positively poor, because that version of the stereotype was marketed here as part of postwar recovery. But, yes, *definitely*–in the best case versions, painfully class-conscious and insecure rather than the hateful kind of snobs. (Even in fiction that showed working-class Brits living in slums or squabbling in schoolyards, the class-consciousness seemed to permeate everything.)

4. Awareness of Wales is so low that I don’t think we even *have* a stereotype. We have stereotypes for generic coal miners and generic Methodists, based on our own…but even if we’ve looked up whether, in an ancestor’s or relative’s case, “Jones” was a Welsh name or an English name: in the U.S. there’s no noticeable difference. Welsh-American Joneses look and sound just like English-American Joneses.

5. And I don’t think many people in my part of the world even hear a difference among British accents. I hear real Brits deviate from BBC (which U.S. students learn too), but don’t recognize patterns clearly enough to guess where anyone comes from. Less cosmopolitan Americans who slur more consonants hear anything clearly enunciated as possibly-British-they-don’t-know.

Oh Ritu I think the representation of Asians in general is pretty terrible in Hollywood.
I’m watching the Good Place at the moment which does have a British Asian character, BUT she is incredibly posh and stuck-up. However, I *think* the programme is aware it’s a stereotype and they’re kind of sending up the stereotype. I think. At least I hope that’s what they’re doing.

Thankfully having been to London for a brief period of time I know that not all Brits are the same LOL and I find most I’ve met in person to be laid back and funny. It does seem like this stereotype should go away considering all the Brits working in American shows and movies! Oh and Idris Elba… lord have mercy. I love him with any accent but especially his real one!

That’s so true. So many Brits work in the American film industry, so the stereotypes really shouldn’t prevail so much. Thanks for your comment. So glad you’ve spent some time over here and oh yes, Idris is a very lovely man indeed!

Love this post! It goes a long way to changing the stereotypes people have of the British and I absolutely love Idris Elba! And tea! I’ve become a tea drinker especially on rainy days and wintery nights! I love the British accent, too! And the movie “Love Actually!” I’ve got to visit Britain sometime! 🙂

Quaffing, Pratchett tells us, is basically drinking, only less of the beverage ends up in your mouth than on the floor/down your shirt/on your neighbor. Quaffing. Now, I would personally quaff champaign because I don’t care for it but most people probably wouldn’t. Unless my theory is correct and we’re all just pretending to like champaign because it’s “fancy.”

Great post!! As an Aussie living in the UK I can’t inaguhe how a British accent sounds like an Aussie one. So true about the British stereotypes. Emily in friends was a terrible representation of Britishness!! Regarding stereotypes just imagine how us Aussies feel everyone thinks we wrestle crocs, all in our neighbours business, put shrimps on the Barbie and compare knife sizes al la Paul Hogan style 😂

Loved your post. As an Aussie who lived in the UK for 4 years (now a rampant Anglophile) from whence most of my ancestors come, I know the British are not the only ones stereotyped. Interestingly, saw a t-shirt online which said, “Make America Great Britain Again”. 🙂

Oh certainly no apology required. I was referring to stereotyping by Americans – I was told we’re “all descended from convicts”. Apart from the perception that Australia is overrun by sharks, snakes and spiders, I experienced only warmth and acceptance while in the UK. 🙂

Hey, I loved your article and it helped me better understand the British people. My sister actually got married in Kent, Gravesend. I love you and Yorkshire pudding! You can’t find that over here and it’s obnoxious.

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